R&D Associate Staff Member - Building Equipment Research

Requisition Id 12869 

Purpose:

The Building Equipment Research Group in the Buildings and Transportation Science Division (BTSD) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking qualified candidates to fill an Associate Research and Development Staff position. The work in this group supports the U.S. DOE Building Technology Office and other customers by developing state-of-the-art building equipment for energy efficiency and equipment-to-grid integration. Research areas include energy efficient and grid-interactive equipment for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, water heating and appliances for residential and small commercial buildings (including electrical and natural gas driven systems).

Major Duties / Responsibilities:

You will be responsible for conducting, coordinating, and reporting complex research in the area of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and water heating (HCAC&R WH), including (1) single- and two-phase heat transfer, (2) heat and energy recovery systems, (3) improving energy efficiency and flexibility of vapor compression systems, and (4) other advanced building equipment including appliances. This will involve the design, fabrication, measurement, analysis, and modeling of novel HVAC&R systems and components.  You will develop novel designs, conduct experimental campaigns, perform thermodynamic analysis and system modeling, analyze results, prepare technical documents and research publications, and secure new funding. The work will involve interacting and collaborating with researchers from universities, national laboratories, and private industry.

Deliver ORNL’s mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by fostering a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

Basic Qualifications:

You must have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science/Engineering, or a related field. One year of experience is required, especially in the field of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R), water heating, or appliances. You should possess a strong background of training (or other direct experience) in energy conversion systems found in buildings (such as system design, analytical modeling, numerical modeling, experimental design, instrumentation and data acquisition).

Expertise in any of the following areas is of particular interest: (a) heat exchanger design and related disciplines (heat transfer, fluid flow, and coupled heat and mass transfer), (b) design and modeling of reverse Rankine (vapor compression) and related thermodynamic cycles, (c) design, measurement, and standards related to residential and commercial equipment, appliances, and water heaters, (d) controls for building equipment, and (e) other technologies relevant to developing future building equipment that is efficient and grid-interactive.

You should have the ability to lead teams of engineers and technicians to successfully design, build and evaluate advanced building equipment and energy conversion systems.  Excellent communication skills (oral and written), as well as strong interpersonal skills to support team building, partnering, and leadership are required. The ability to develop and/or maintain strong relationships through active participation in building industry organizations and events is required.  Finally, you should have strong, proven publication/patent record. For more information, please contact Brian Fricke (frickeba@ornl.gov).

This position will remain open for a minimum of 5 days after which it will close when a qualified candidate is identified and/or hired.

We accept Word (.doc, .docx), Adobe (unsecured .pdf), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and HTML (.htm, .html) up to 5MB in size. Resumes from third party vendors will not be accepted; these resumes will be deleted and the candidates submitted will not be considered for employment.

If you have trouble applying for a position, please email ORNLRecruiting@ornl.gov.

ORNL is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, are encouraged to apply.  UT-Battelle is an E-Verify employer.